Goodbye For Now
by serendipitous-15
Summary: It's only goodbye for now, not goodbye forever. Abby says goodbye to Tony, Ducky, and Gibbs. Tag to 15 x 22 'Two Steps Back'


**Disclaimer: NCIS belongs to CBS and Don Bellisario, I'm just borrowing them.**

 _Abby, Ducky, Tony, and Gibbs have been part of the NCIS universe since the JAG episode they were introduced in. I would think that since Abby has a one way ticket to England her goodbyes to the three men that she has known the longest would be longer and more substantial since they have a history that stretches back almost two decades. So these are her goodbyes to Tony, Ducky, and Gibbs. This set of missing scenes/tags exists in the same universe as my Tony/Jimmy friendship stories._

 _Spoilers: General spoilers to 13 x 24 'Family First' and 15 x 22 'Two Steps Back'_

* * *

Abby slowly walked through her now empty rooms. Her brothers had offered to take her stuff while she got settled in the UK but nearly two decades worth of possessions was a lot to foist onto family members so after going through her belongings Abby sent the things she wanted to keep to a large storage locker for the time being. She was going to miss this place, while not her first home in the D.C. are it was definitely the best. No one could deny that moving into this place was a definite upgrade from her original studio and then later one bedroom apartment. Now, however, it was time to say goodbye. After one last sweeping look around Abby opened her front door before locking it for the last time, when she turned around she found Tony leaning slightly against the hood of his car and Tali waving furiously at her from the back seat.

"You didn't think I was going to let you go without a proper goodbye, did you?" he asked after Abby finished hugging him.

"I thought we said our goodbyes already?"

"That wasn't a proper Dinozzo goodbye, Abby. Come on, get in, we'll give you a ride to the airport."

"Tony, you don't have to. I can just get an Uber or a Lyft ride."

"Please Abby, for old time's sake."

How could she say no to that? Abby let Tony put her bags in the back before getting into the passenger side seat.

"Hi, Abby!" said an excited Tali from her car seat.

"Hi, Tali," Abby replied smiling, her gaze landed on the sketch pad on Tali's lap. "What are you drawing?" she asked the little girl after spying the markers lying around her.

"A picture for you," said Tali as she colored in something with a gray marker.

"A picture for me? Can I see it?"

"Not yet!" Tali exclaimed loudly. "It's not finished yet," the little girl explained in a softer voice after remembering what her dad said about yelling in the car for no reason, "you can see it after I'm finished."

"I'm sure I'll love it," Abby responded. In the year or so that she has gotten to know Tali Dinozzo Abby could not help falling in love with Tony and Ziva's little girl. Abby could see bits of both Tony and Ziva in her but Tali was her own person with her own thoughts, desires, preferences, and an insatiable need to be as independent as a nearly 5-year-old could be.

"Everyone ready?" asked Tony when he returned to the driver's seat. After getting confirmation Tony started the car and headed towards Dulles International Airport, the traffic gods must be smiling down on them because before Abby knew it airport terminal signs were appearing along the highway. "British Airways, right?" asked Tony glancing at Abby out of the corner of his eye. Abby nodded and Tony headed to the parking lot closest to the terminal. Once parked Tony popped the trunk to allow Abby to get her bags while he went to unbuckle Tali from her car seat, then father and daughter followed Abby into the airport.

"Thank you for the ride, Tony," Abby said as the little group stood just outside the ticket counter line for British Airways. This was it, once she checked in it would final.

"It's nothing, Abs," he replied before grabbing something from his inside suit pocket. "This is for you," he said handing her a small packet, "business class is much more comfortable than coach."

"Tony—"

"I have more air miles than I can hope to use, Abby," he explained. "Oh, you have WhatsApp, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"My Cousin Rose's number is in that packet too. She said to give her a call once you've settled and have a British SIM card, she'd love to get a chance to show you around."

Abby just hugged him in response, she thought that she was done shedding goodbye tears but leave it to one Anthony Dinozzo to prove her wrong.

"Abby Sciuto, you were my first real friend in DC, this is the least I could do," he whispered quietly into her ear. Abby did not bother to stop the tears from falling at that statement, he had told that once before, back in the early days, before McGee and even before Kate.

* * *

 _Abby hummed to herself good-naturedly as she crossed the threshold to her lab and switched on the lights. She stopped right inside the doorframe, something was different. She let her critical gaze sweep across the landscape of the lab to find out what exactly was different; she spotted the disturbance placed squarely in the center of her desk in the back of the lab. Abby made a beeline to her desk and stared at the small, nicely wrapped box sitting on top of an envelope. She picked up the envelope and took out the cream colored card; she let her fingers run along the cover of the card and admired the intricate embossed design on the cardstock before opening the card to read the message inside._

 _xxxx_

 _Later that day she found Tony alone in his area, she grabbed the chair belonging to the desk next to him and sat down while simultaneously grabbed his hand to get his attention._

" _You didn't have to, you know," she told him quietly._

" _I know," he said just as quietly, "but you're my first real friend here, Abby, it's the least I could do."_

 _In response Abby closed the distance to hug him and hoped that the hug could convey all the things she wanted to say but was unsure of how to say them. It was true that in the beginning Abby did not take to Tony and it would be fair to say that the feeling was mutual but over time she could detect the small cracks in his outward persona that told that there was more to Anthony Dinozzo than meets the eye he was not just a smart mouthed, fast talking playboy. She finally got past the mask close to six months after he became an official NCIS agent and ever since then she endeavored to be the friend she knew he desperately needed._

* * *

Abby finally noticed the tugging so she quickly wiped away the stray tears and turned her attention to Tali.

"It's finished now," Tali said simply and handed over the picture. It was her with her pigtails and spikey collar, next to her was Bert and they were seated on what looked like a plane headed to a child's idea of Buckingham Palace complete with Union Jack and a person Abby assumed must be Queen Elizabeth. "Daddy said you're going to live in England, they have a queen! Aunt Rose lives there too but she doesn't live where the queen lives, will you live where the queen lives?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I won't live where the queen lives but tell you what, if I do see the queen I'll tell you, deal?"

"Deal!"

"I'm going to miss you, Tali, but we can FaceTime, okay?"

"Okay," the little girl said readily before hugging Abby. She liked her dad's friend Abby, she was cool and sometimes she'd let Tali borrow Bert. Abby returned the hug; she was going to miss this kid so much.

Straightening back up she looked at Tony, next to Ducky and Gibbs she had known him the longest and she considered him one of her best friends. Even after he left NCIS to forge a new path as a single father he was always there for her and even as she was getting ready to leave the only country she had ever called home for a brand new one he was still looking out for her.

"It's not goodbye forever, it's only goodbye for now," she told him as she pulled him into another hug.

"We made it almost 20 years; did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?"

"No," she said, voice thick with unshed tears.

"Good, if you ever need a place to stay when you're back stateside just give me a call, okay?"

Abby nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Finally she loosened her grip but was in no hurry to end the hug and neither was Tony.

"I should go check in now; the security line is probably going to be a nightmare."

Father and daughter waited for her to get her ticket and check in her bag before the trio wordlessly headed to the security line. One more round of hugs and then Abby got in line to get her ticket and passport checked before security.

"Abby, _that_ was a proper Dinozzo goodbye," Tony told her right before it was her turn with the TSA agent.

Abby's last glimpse of the little family was of Tony holding Tali up as both waved goodbye to her. Abby waved back before getting into one of the open security lines.


End file.
